Opinion and Commentary

Ledesma: PRRD did not use Moses staff to draw water

March 21, 2019, 1:23 pm

THE acute shortage of potable water in many parts of the National Capital Region has severely affected the daily norm of metropolitan lifestyle and routine in scores of barangays where the spigots had ran dry. The long queues of people waiting for fire trucks that had been used to ration water are… Read More

Ledesma: Araw ng Davao and more

March 14, 2019, 5:48 pm

MARCH is Davao City’s anniversary month and this year’s 82nd celebration is another big event as domestic and foreign tourists come to witness the many colorful  activities which the city government had planned. Each year is always an improvement of the previous and 2019 is expected to be… Read More

Ledesma: Desperate Otso Diretso

March 7, 2019, 5:34 pm

THE Liberal Party candidates known by their slogan “Otso Diretso” are in dire need of a crowd for a much needed cathartic ego massage. They have gone around trying to muster an audience which would listen to their peroration but even their colleague Mar Roxas had gotten tired of their campaign… Read More

Ledesma: Campaign, libel and all that jazz

February 23, 2019, 6:03 pm

WHEN boredom sets in after the hearing, reading and watching all the dramatics about Maria Ressa’s libel and tax evasion case, try focusing on what’s happening in the senate campaign trail. It’s more exciting and comic. What could beat “sexy”, “pogi” and “tanda”, all facing… Read More

Ledesma: The HnP election juggernaut

February 13, 2019, 8:44 pm

THE senatorial and Party-List race has begun and for the Hugpong Ng Pagbabago (HnP), the starting point is in vote-rich Pampanga. It is a show of force, a second chapter in the emerging Regional Party that in the first canto of its foray in national politics cut short the term of the third most… Read More

Ledesma: Sen. Bong Go? Why not?

February 9, 2019, 3:35 pm

BONG Go, the special assistant to the President and now a senatorial candidate, recently landed in the 5-6 slot in the SWS survey. Promptly, as if on cue, he was a subject of unkind and cruel vilification aimed at, how else but, dislodging him from the comfortable lead and picture him as nothing… Read More

From the Mail: Dengvaxia mob

February 6, 2019, 1:26 pm

 By Undersecretary Lorraine T. Badoy THE Dengvaxia issue has taken on a life of its own so that, in order to clarify and hopefully, to calm and erase confusion, I have thought it best to write a list. Just so we’re clear as day. 1. Does the Dengvaxia issue fall under the PCOO’s purview? Just… Read More

Ledesma: Davao City’s Bulk Water Project

February 5, 2019, 12:37 pm

DAVAO City is providentially endowed with great and unique resources: fertile soil, rivers and streams, forest reserves where lies the recharge areas of its rich aquifers. Much of its watershed areas had been raped by loggers who made fortunes out of the mahoganies that they cut and exported. Many… Read More

Ledesma: Weakness and apathy invite aggression

January 29, 2019, 1:39 pm

THE deadly blast in Jolo of Mt. Carmel Cathedral ushered gory memories of similar vicious bombing incidents of San Pedro Cathedral in Davao City. These dastardly and bestial attacks especially on the house of worship are condemned by both Christian and Islamic religions and can only be carried out… Read More

Ledesma: Even the heavens rebuke Andaya

January 24, 2019, 1:05 pm

EX-majority Floor Leader Rolando Andaya’s attempt at dramatics is a foolishly childish adventurism that it only invited speculations why he cannot come to terms with Budget Sec. Ben Diokno on the figures which he claimed were insertions made by the latter. He assailed the idea of having… Read More

Ledesma: Dirty tricks on Cusi, et. al., won’t wash

January 21, 2019, 3:46 pm

NOT too long ago, I wrote a piece about the headline of a  Manila-based tabloid  “Abante” and its website which facetiously assailed the integrity of Energy Sec. Al Cusi, PNOC Pres. Reuben Lista and TRANSCO Pres. Melvin Matibag. I was initially curious about the issues they raised against… Read More

Ledesma: De Lima’s glass detention cell

January 15, 2019, 12:36 pm

SENATOR Leila de Lima is a marvel. Despite her being confined in a detention cell for charges involving drug-related issues she gets an enviable media mileage which other legislators can only salivate for. Not even ex-Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who was illegally detained, had the same luxury.… Read More

Ledesma: Political morons

January 8, 2019, 1:35 pm

I OFTEN wondered why and what have we done as a nation that we are given this scourge – a Lower Chamber in Congress where political morons and hungry hyenas thrive and fight over our tax that they cannot agree how much to allocate for what and for whom without thinking in single and possessive… Read More

Ledesma: Joma’s incurable phantasmagoria

January 3, 2019, 5:22 pm

I DO not know why Jose Ma. Sison still makes it to the front pages despite the fact that his statements proceed from plain hallucination. His recent declaration is that for the year 2019, the CPP/NPA main agenda is to oust Pres. Rodrigo Duterte. Funny and pathetic because since day one of his trip… Read More

Ledesma: The honor rolls and the dropouts

December 31, 2018, 12:13 pm

I ALWAYS do a final accounting of how characters especially decision makers and institutions influence our lives for the last 365 days. This is sort of a simple math and will try my best not to overdo or under-rate for after all, this is not about figures so trust me I will not do a booboo like… Read More

Ledesma: My Davao City and what looms ahead

December 27, 2018, 12:53 pm

THE horrendous traffic experienced by both motorists and pedestrian in Davao City last week gave us a preview of what will happen in this southern capital in the next couple of years. For now, however, some measures can be enforced to mitigate the problem which actually arose from the various… Read More

From the Mail: A culture of negativity

December 24, 2018, 7:27 pm

By Atty. Abraham A. Agamata THE last quarter of 2018 saw significant gains for the Philippines in terms of protecting media workers. Last October, the Philippines was named by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) as one of the countries with an improved status in its 2018 Global Impunity… Read More

From the Mail: Soft launch of PH-Korea Society to boost economic ties

December 22, 2018, 1:31 pm

By Ben Cal The strong diplomatic ties between the Philippines and South Korea will get a boost following the soft launch of the Philippines-Korea Society at the Makati Shangri-la on Thursday. “The Philippines-Korea Society will definitely provide a great venue to discuss and exchange information… Read More

Ledesma: The good, the bad, the ugly and the beautiful

December 20, 2018, 3:10 pm

WE are about to end the year and here’s a broad perspective from your letter writer from the boondocks of Mindanao. This is strictly personal and I will not begrudge anyone from flagellating me should they disagree. After all, contrary to the martyr of the western press, Maria Ressa, anywhere in… Read More

Ledesma: The wrath of Mindanao

December 17, 2018, 1:29 pm

THOSE senators opposed to the extension of martial law in Mindanao should ponder now on their “bright opinions” which simplistically state that there is absolutely no basis at all to justify its continued enforcement in the region. Hardly had the resonance of the speeches of opposition… Read More